Triptych 'Soil-Food-Forms'
Tilted Square, Lowered Circle and Flipped Triangle in a new context together. The food powders and the different soils add new layers together with the 3 shapes and their configuration. This 3 panel work tells a more complex story than just triangle, square and circle if painted with paint.
dated 2018 until 2018
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'Soil-Food-Form'
2018
Triptych ‘Soil-Food-Form’
Tilted Square, Lowered Circle and Flipped Triangle in a new context together, as the food powders and the different soils add new layers together with the forms and their configuration. This 3 panel work tells a more complex story than just triangle, square and circle painted with paint.
Remember your first mathematics lessons where these forms popped up with all kind of different equations to be solved? Visiting Zambian and Malawian schools (in the city and rural area’s) does realize that this is universal. Visiting many cultural places (amongst them Mua Mission Malawi and Wayiwayi Art Studio and Gallery in Livingstone, Zambia) several examples where found of the use of circle, triangle and square as general used symbols and in Africa this history goes way back in time and maybe even before they popped up in Europe.
These forms where, later in history, the main building blocks (though he spoke about sphere, cone, cube and cylinder) in the theoretical approach of Paul Cezanne (which finally led to cubism) and heavily used in the art movement minimalism and post-minimalism. In the art practise here is is also used on a regular bases as honour to minimalism and post-minimalism. In the African context here, it is more used as a start to explore the use of these forms / symbols in Zambia and Malawi and try to find historical evidence of their already long existence.
'Tilted Square’
2018
'Tilted Square’
Maize flour / Lake Malawi Beach Sand / wood glue / varnish spray paint on canvas
44,5cm x 75cm x 3cm
A reflection of the present and the future of Malawi. 'Tilted Square' is consisting of Lake Malawi "beach sand" (reflecting unfruitfulness) with the white square in maize flour (standing for making the soil unfertile). Of course I wish the opposite to happen.
Sand is in this series as it is the ultimate unfruitful soil for farming and from lake Malawi because this lake is the end station of a lot of fruitful soil flushing in the Lake because of deforestation. Causing the lake bottom to rise and killing a lot of fishes because of changes is water chemical concentrations.
Maize flour is in this series because it is a food / crop item causing (farming by humans is) deforestation.
'Lowered Circle’
2018
'Lowered circle’
Cassava flour / red soil / wood glue / varnish spray paint on canvas
44,5cm x 75cm x 3cm
Color red soil is used here as ‘natural available fertile soil’ which is getting rare and disappearing because of monoculture agriculture. As a result of deforestation all the fertile soil that’s left is flushing into the rivers and into lake Malawi (raising the bottom of Lake Malawi and affecting fish population).
Color ‘white crème’ Cassava is in this series because it represents one of the "original" staple foods (besides sorghum, etc. ) in Malawi (and Zambia) before maize took over (as it took over diversity, the staple food market and “food” politics). Cassava represents tradition and maybe a look back to the older and maybe "better" days for some (farmers and poor people depending highly on this “easy accessible” staple food which better suited the local conditions and environment).
'Flipped Triangle’
2018
'Flipped Triangle’
Nestlé Strawberry powder / ashes / wood glue / varnish spray paint on canvas
44,5cm x 75cm x 3cm
Ashes (from fire’s which was used for cooking food) are in this series because it is a product of burned wood and also represents deforestation, burning down the wood for making new farmers land and the ashes are then also as fertiliser.
Nestlé Strawberry powder is reflecting our sugar addiction (probably wanted by multinationals to make more profit) and refining food into an unrecognisable unhealthy form.